The Girl's Dormitory
by Bella Caterina
Summary: This is the untold story based on the girls of Gryffindor during the trio's era. Boys, gossip and drama are just some of the things that go on behind closed doors. Mostly takes the point of view of Lavender Brown.
1. Chapter 1: B is for Baby

_The Girl's Dormitory - _Chapter #1 - B for Baby

This is the untold story based on the girls of Gryffindor during the trio's era. Boys, gossip and drama are just some of the things that go on behind closed doors. Mostly takes the point of view of Lavender Brown.

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><p>Lavender would have completely forgotten what day it was if her mother hadn't barged into her bedroom shaking an envelope printed in green ink, screaming at the top of her lungs something about today being her special day. Sleepy-eyed and semi-conscious, Lavender sat herself up against her bed frame and stared as Mrs Brown threw herself down onto the bed beside her and embraced her lovingly with arms spread wide. "My special little girl has finally turned eleven! A special day for a special girl! Oh, I'm so proud of you!" She planted a wet kiss to her forehead and revealed the letter addressed to her in 'the messiest bedroom of the house', complete with the Hogwarts emblem stamped with hot wax on the back. "Open it, quick! I want to frame it with the others!"<p>

Lavender wasn't quite sure why her mother was so proud of her turning eleven, as it was bound to happen sooner or later in her life. But she didn't bother to ask as she turned her attention to the letter she'd been waiting to get her hands on ever since she was old enough to know about Hogwarts. Her two older siblings, Jason and Mary, had already attended Hogwarts and since graduated and moved out from her parent's house now that they were working fulltime for the Ministry. Lavender was the last in her family to get her acceptance letter, and whilst her mother was ecstatic that all her children had been successfully recorded in the list of magical children (meaning she was not a squib), she was quickly overcome with tears at the realization that her youngest daughter would no longer be living with her and her husband after the summer.

"Mum!" Lavender cried, though half-amused at how ridiculous she was being. "Mum, it's alright! This is a good thing, see? I'm going to go to Hogwarts!" She held up the letter she'd ripped open from the envelope bidding her congratulations and her list of school supplies. "Oh Mum," Lavender laughed when her mother tried hard to smile through her continuous sobs that were with mixed of pride and despair. Returning her hug, Lavender looked over her mother's shoulder to see her father stand in the doorway, wearing a grin from ear to ear and carrying a small pile of presents in his arms.

"Happy birthday, Lavenberry!" He said, coming into the room and sitting at the foot of the bed near her mother. "The big one-one! You'll find you might have been a bit spoilt this year as it's such a big year for you," he leant over and pushed the gifts into her lap. "There's a few from us, one from both Jason and Mary, one from nanny and some more from Uncle Rick and Aunty Dora," Lavender's father beamed as she sat momentarily, apparently speechless at the number of presents she had received this year. Then, seizing the first and largest from the pile, Lavender indulged in the best part of birthdays and tore open each gift. While she examined the cauldron set (labeled "My first Potions Set") given to her by her grandmother, an owl fluttering outside her bedroom window pecked impatiently on the glass carrying a number of birthday cards for Lavender, some of which sang gleefully upon being opened. Soon, her father had to go to work and her mother suggested that she got out of bed and dressed so she could take her out to breakfast at the pancake and waffle shop down on the corner. Grateful at how wonderful her birthday had been so far, Lavender kissed her father goodbye and dressed herself in her favorite floral dress with tights, mittens and a scarf since the mornings were still quite peckish during April.

Lavender met her mother downstairs and in the kitchen when a large cage sitting on top of bench next to the sink caught her eye. "Mum, what's that cage doing in our kitchen?" Lavender asked, approaching it as her mother turned to see what she was indicating. "Oh, bother!" cried her mother and Lavender stopped in her tracks a foot or so away from the cage. "You weren't supposed to see that until after supper!" She sighed and stepped over to the cage herself. Opening it from the side, she pulled out something tiny that looked like a white ball of fluff that was small enough to sit in the palm of her hand. She took it over to Lavender, who gasped when she realized what it was, and took the baby rabbit from her hand to cradle in her own. "This is your big present from Dad and I," her mother said sweetly, watching Lavender stroke the animal with her fingertips as she held it close to her chest. "You can't take him to Hogwarts but we figured you can look after him until September and then we'll take care of him."

"Mum, he's beautiful! And so cute and small! What's his name?" Lavender asked, her eyes as wide and bright as ever.

"That's for you to decide. All we know is he's a boy and he's six weeks old! Only just opened his eyes, apparently."

Lavender lifted the rabbit to her eye level so she could see her new pet with his eyes open. His eyes were blue with a pink ring around the edges, and his nose twitched continuously against her fingers making his whispers flutter with each movement.

"I can't think of anything yet, can we name him later? I'll just call him B for now. B for baby."

Lavenders mother chuckled. "Of course sweetheart, we'll give him a proper name in due time." She reached out and carefully took the rabbit from her hands and placed him back inside the cage. "Are you hungry? Because I'm starving for some pancakes with ice-cream!"

"With _ice-cream_?" Lavender eyes drew even wider, hardly believing her luck. She'd never been allowed to have ice-cream with her pancakes before, especially since ice-cream was for dessert, not for breakfast. Perhaps turning eleven was a bigger deal than she had anticipated, considering how spoilt she was being today. "Yes please! I feel like a princess today, Mum!"

Lavender's mother laughed as she reached for her coat. "That's because you are a princess, Lavenberry."

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><p>Going to Hogwarts didn't really sink in until Lavender found herself sitting in a train compartment on the Hogwarts express with two boys and a girl she did not know. Going to Diagon Alley and getting her books, opening her first bank account at Gringotts, having her robes fitted, purchasing a wand and even running through the wall between platforms nine and ten at Kings Cross seemed completely normal up until this moment. Now she was truly alone. She had waved to her parents standing on the platform right up until the train had turned the corner and they had disappeared from her view. Her mother had been crying ever since they'd left the house and went into London, and her father too had been suspiciously quiet throughout the journey. Lavender had followed two other first year boys to this compartment, pretending to have stumbled upon it by accident and asked them politely if she could sit with them. Only now she was beginning to regret her decision. One of the boys had gone to the bathroom and had returned in a flurry, realizing his pet toad (Lavender did not see any toad prior to him leaving) had escaped from his seat and was now on all fours, feeling around on the floor for his lost pet. The other boy was so engorged in his muggle magazine about football that he hardly paid the other occupants of the compartment any attention. She could tell already that he was a half-blood or muggle by the fact that none of the pictures in the magazine were moving. And lastly, the girl besides Lavender closest to the door was offering words of encouragement to the boy searching for his toad.<p>

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll turn up, I don't suppose toad's have many places to hide on a busy train," she told him kindly, flattening the front of her skirt as she watched him.

"He's always disappearing like this!" the boy moaned, sitting up on his knees and looked around miserably. "My grandma will kill me if I told her I lost him before I even got there…"

"Is he a big… toad? Or is he rather small, like a tree-frog?"

"Er, I guess you'd say he's medium sized."

"And is he brown or green?"

"A bit of both, really."

"Okay… What was your name again?"

"Neville. Neville Longbottom."

"Right, Neville," the girl straightened her posture and threw her hair back so her long bushy hair fell over her shoulders. "I'm going to go look down the train for you and check the neighboring compartments. You stay here in-case you find he's crawled back into your trunk or something."

"You know, he might of!" Neville said eagerly, getting to his feet so he could reach for his trunk in the spaces above each seat. "Thanks Myonie!"

"Hermione," she corrected him quickly, but added a small smile. "I'll be back in just a moment!"

Lavender watched her slide out of the compartment and turned her attention back to the boys. She hadn't been trying as hard as Hermione to become friends with them. For all she knew, all four of them could be sorted into different houses and she would only ever see them during classes. At least, that's what she was hoping for. Before losing his toad, Hermione was boasting to Neville about things she knew about Hogwarts, things that not even Lavender knew after both her brother and sister had told her countless stories of the ancient castle. Neville seemed rather interested, but for a boy who couldn't even keep track of a toad, perhaps it wouldn't take much at all to impress him. As for the other boy who hadn't said a word since he snuck behind his precious magazine, Lavender hoped he had at least some social skills if he wanted to make any friends at all during his time at Hogwarts. She turned her head and continued to glance out the window, watching the countryside pass her in a blur of mixed greens and greys and eventually pink as the sun began to set upon the horizon.

Hermione did not return to their compartment for quite some time later, all of which Lavender, Neville and the Football boy had not said a word to each other. Neville still hadn't found his toad, Trevor, and decided to go searching for him himself where Hermione had already looked. The remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful, and Lavender felt a great knot in her stomach tighten when she realized the train was starting to slow down. It was already nightfall, and the buzz of excited first years and older students started to file out of the train and onto the platform where a gigantic man holding a lantern well above anybodies head called out for all first years to follow him.

"Oh my goodness," squeaked a girl behind Lavender and she turned to face her. "Is he a giant?"

"I dunno," Lavender replied quietly, walking towards the booming man a little timidly. Lavender knew little about giants, but what she did know was not in this man's favor.

"I hear the first years traditionally cross the lake to get to the castle," the girl continued to speak as she moved beside Lavender following the large man. "Isn't that a big dangerous, though? There's meant to be a giant squad in that lake!"

Lavender laughed. It seemed Hogwarts got more and more ridiculous by the moment. She was surprised her siblings had left out so much detail, such as the giant man and the apparent giant squad living in the lake. She wouldn't be surprised if there were giant house elves around the castle at this rate.

On the large man's orders, all the first years climbed into the boats which magically pulled themselves across the lake and into the view of a majestic looking castle set before them. It's windows were lit up with yellow light pouring from the panes, and Lavender could make out the entrance doors, the great hall and all the towers; two of which she knew were the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw common room. At that moment, Lavender's stomach gave another unpleasant squirm as she realized she was moments away from being sorted. Her mother and Mary had been a Hufflepuff, while her father and Jason has been in Gryffindor. She had a fifty per cent chance of being in Gryffindor, or maybe more of a chance to be in Hufflepuff seeing as the two other females of the house were. Lavender hadn't given much thought as to what house she would prefer to be in to avoid disappointment if she didn't get what she was hoping for. Lavender could hear the girl she met before tutting and sighing nervously as they crossed the lake, and Lavender wished her problems were only as big as whether or not a giant squid lived underneath the waters or not.

Once the first years had docked at the boathouse, they were gathered in a large group and taken up to the castle. They were then met by the deputy headmistress, Professor McGonagall, who explained that the sorting was about to commence. Lavender and the other first years shuffled nervously into the great hall where they were met by the eyes of hundreds of other students and stood at the front of the hall closest to the staff table. She then noticed a scruffy looking witches hat sitting on a stool, and she knew instantly this was the sorting hat that made all the decisions.

Lavender watched a girl called Hannah be called and sorted into Hufflepuff. Did she want to be a Hufflepuff? Were her family expecting her to one? What if she were sorted into something completely unexpected? Did it really matter what house she was sorted into, anyway? At the sound of her name, Lavender jumped to attention and made the walk towards the hat. Allowing Professor McGonagall to place it on her head, Lavender sat in silence for a moment thinking wildly until a quiet voice spoke inside her ear.

"Nervous, are we?" The hat asked, sounding comical. "You have no reason to be."

Lavender thought to herself how bizarre it was for a hat to know what she was feeling when it spoke again, making her jump once more. "Yes yes, I can see everything. I know what you're thinking too, don't be alarmed though, it's all for a good reason."

She listened to the hat um and ah for a moment and Lavender tried to keep her mind clear, though she was sure the hat could tell she was torn between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Then, after seemed like a lifetime later, the hat called out in a strong confident voice "GRYFFINDOR!"

Lavender's heart leapt for joy. She was a Gryffindor, the house of loyal, noble and brave students. How perfect it was. She couldn't have been happier in that moment. Skipping down the hall to meet her fellow Gryffindors, she was met with claps and cheers and pats on the back, and all her skepticism on Hogwarts melted before her. She then watched more first years join her table, including both boys and Hermione from her train compartment and the girl she had shared a boat across the lake with. The girl took a seat next to her wearing a grin so wide Lavender could have counted her teeth.

"Gryffindor!" She whispered excitedly. "Guess that means we'll be sharing a dormitory together!"

"Guess you're right," Lavender smiled back happily.

"My name is Parvati, what's yours?"

"Lavender"

Parvati giggled. "My mum calls me Pav, do you get called Lav?"

"I… No, well, sometimes…"

"Looks like we'll be Pav and Lav"

Lavender thought for a second, then giggled as well. She looked down the table and saw the faces of her fellow Gryffindor's light up as food appeared before their eyes, signaling the start of the Welcoming feast. Smiling, she turned back to Parvati with a content look upon her face. "Yeah, I guess we will."


	2. Chapter 2: Quidditch is a Waste of Time

Lavender could have sworn somebody confunded her so that her first week at Hogwarts was merely a blur. It was extremely difficult trying to remember everything when she was learning something new every minute. She lost her way for many of her first classes, and was late even the second, third and fourth time she attended them, depending on what kind of obstacles the castle laid for her along the way. She quickly learned that preparing what books she would need for the day in her school-bag the night before was an efficient way not to forget anything in the mad morning rush the next day, and that leaving for classes sometimes fifteen minutes early was necessary due to the overwhelming size of the castle. It was definitely becoming a workout travelling from one class to the other most of the time.

She had decided her favorite subject to date was Charms. Professor Flitwick was most kind and approachable in assisting the first years with performing their charm-work. Other teachers had proved not so helpful, such as Professor Snape the Potions master. Lavender soon learnt that Professor Snape did not favor Gryffindor's in the slightest, and she was better off asking her neighbor for help in risk of being caught for talking than to confront Snape with a query. He almost seemed to take pleasure in undermining non-Slytherin students, which was predictable since he was the head of Slytherin house. Lavender found his classes very unnerving, but almost always managed to avoid his wrath in the presence of Neville. He was proving himself clumsier and clumsier each day since he lost (and had now found) his toad Trevor on the train and was now constantly targeted in Snape's classes.

Lavender had learnt that she was in the same year and house as Harry Potter, famous for his extraordinary levels of magic that enabled him to deflect the unforgiveable killing curse when he was just eighteen months old. Though her parents would not tell Lavender much about Harry Potter, such as why he was trying to be killed or what kind of person would try and kill an innocent child; gossip followed him like wild-fire throughout the castle and even Lavender had to force herself to stop staring at him on occasion. Though she hadn't really had the chance to speak to him yet, she shared a majority of her classes with him, and noticed that like Neville, was also under the strain from Professor Snape. Lavender personally thought this was a bit unfair, considering Harry showed a lot more potential with his work than Neville but didn't dare to say anything. She kept all these thoughts to herself, including from Parvati who took great pleasure in discussing Harry whenever she had the opportunity.

"He's dreamy," Parvati sighed one morning at breakfast, subconsciously dipping her fork in and out of her poached egg yolk while she stared down the house table, watching Harry and his friends pour over an article in the daily prophet. "And he's so modest. Doesn't he know how talented he is?"

"I suppose not," replied Lavender, mildly amused at this usual breakfast topic of discussion and helped herself to some more pumpkin juice.

"Have you managed to speak to him yet?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Harry as she spoke.

"No, you asked me this last night as well."

"Oh," Parvati said sounding disappointed. "Well if Hermione Granger can talk to him…"

"That's because Hermione Granger can't find anybody else to talk to."

The words had slipped from Lavender's mouth before she could stop herself. Parvati fell into a fit of giggles and Lavender looked slightly abashed. She hadn't meant to sound so cruel, but it was the truth. Both Lavender and Parvati shared a dormitory with Hermione since she had been sorted into Gryffindor as well, and had been a thousand times more annoying than she had been on the Hogwarts Express. Their other roommate, Fay Dunbar, had been the only girl in their dorm trying to be friends with her, but Lavender knew this was a false attempt as she had heard her call Hermione a "goodie-two-shoes" and "know-it-all" behind her back. Though Lavender found Hermione annoying, she didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her, nor did she think it was nice to gossip, but being friends with Parvati made that almost impossible. Parvati was already becoming increasingly popular in their year group, and though she favored Lavender as a friend the most (Lavender suspected it was because she listened to Parvati drone on about Harry Potter every day that made her such a desirable friend), Parvati was always reporting back with new bits of gossip to discuss nearly every time Lavender saw her. Regardless, she enjoyed Parvati's company even if they didn't see eye-to-eye on gossip and boys. She was her first real friend at Hogwarts, and during these stressful first weeks, having friends was extremely important.

After breakfast was a scheduled flying lesson for the first years out on the grounds. The sun was shining weakly over the drizzled grass once they reached the oak doors, and Lavender walked silently besides Parvati who was telling her about Neville and his Remembrall while they headed towards Madam Hooch. All first years had a compulsory flying lesson this morning, and Parvati stopped talking abruptedly as soon as she saw Harry and his friend Ron Weasley approaching them from behind. There were rows of old and battered broomsticks laying on the grass before them, and one by one they chose one and stood beside it. Parvati took Lavender's left while Dean Thomas, another Gryffindor boy, took her right and offered her a friendly smile.

"Can you believe some people have never flown a broomstick before?" came a snide voice from behind them. Lavender looked over her shoulder and saw a gang of Slytherin boys loitering lazily around the broomsticks as though they were merely rubbish on the ground. She recognized the boy who had spoken as Draco Malfoy, and she stared at him as he continued to act boastfully; an act she had seen him wear several times before. "Of course, there's Mudbloods who wouldn't have a clue," Draco lowered his voice, so Madam Hooch wouldn't hear him while addressing the class. He was talking to no one in particular but Lavender noticed a pair of Slytherin boys beside him snigger at his comments. "Suppose we better teach them all their missing out on, eh? Not like they could be better than _real _wizards anyway,"

"Miss Brown, your attention please!"

Lavender jumped and spun around to notice half the class was staring at her. She saw Parvati shuffle her feet in the corner of her eye, obviously embarrassed at her friend's lack of attention. Murmuring a quick apology, Madam Hooch continued to give the class instructions and Lavender figured it was better to listen to her than to risk getting into more trouble listening to Malfoy's droning. By the time they had mounted their brooms Lavender was no longer Madam Hooch's concern, and instead was buried by Neville whom was panicking trying to control his broom as it lifted him high into the air.

Lavender sighed and turned her back on the scene. What a bunch of nonsense. She didn't have the slightest bit of interest in playing Quidditch, so this class was already a waste of time. But as Fay had said earlier, there might be a once in her life situation where she'll have to ride a broomstick to save herself from trouble. Though it seemed unlikely, Lavender had to agree she was mostly right and suddenly a horrible crunching sound and a cry of pain brought her attention back to the class. Neville had fallen off his broom and was cradling her wrist, which appeared to be broken. Madam Hooch was already helping him to his feet and instructing the class to stay put while she took him to the hospital wing.

"Poor Neville, he has permanent bad luck," Parvati said quietly to Lavender, and she nodded in agreement.

Before Madam Hooch was out of sight, Draco Malfoy was mouthing off again. To Lavender's surprise, Parvati told Malfoy to shut up, which was exactly what Lavender was thinking and she was immediately made fun of by a Slytherin girl by the name of Pansy. Lavender suddenly felt a rush of affection to Parvati; perhaps they were more alike than she had thought.

Lavender turned to see if there was anybody else unimpressed with his behavior and noticed that Harry Potter was now standing up to him. The attitude of the class changed immediately, and now everybody had their eyes on Potter and Malfoy. Parvati gasped next to Lavender and grasped her arm excitedly "Look, Harry's sticking up for me as well isn't he?" Before Lavender could reply she carried on. "Malfoy's such a git, just because his family is rich and his dad knows everyone in the Ministry…"

So that explains the bragging, Lavender thought to her-self. She noticed Hermione fussing from behind Harry, trying to stop him from breaking the rules and potentially getting into trouble, and she knew Parvati would be watching her too. "This is stupid," Lavender murmured and returned her broom back to the grass beside her, turned at the heel and started to leave. She heard Parvati call after her but she paid no notice. She didn't have the time or interest for such petty drama, even if every other girl in her year did. Who would have thought it was cool to busy yourself with other people's dramas?

Later that evening in the girl's dormitory, Parvati made it her duty to fill Lavender in on everything she had missed. The Malfoy/Potter encounter had landed Harry a position as the new seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team after catching Neville's Remembrall that Draco threw. Though she was happy for his gain, she didn't care about Harry Potter like Parvati did. Parvati was half way through describing Harry's dive to catch Neville's Remembrall when Hermione walked in and she stopped short.

"Hello," said Hermione simply, casting them a suspicious look as though they had just ceased talking about her.

"Hi," Lavender replied, leaning back on the bed-frame of her four-poster bed. Parvati muttered a greeting that was a lot less friendly than Lavender's. Hermione looked flustered as she walked over to her bed.

"If I have interrupted something ,I could leave," she huffed, crossing her arms impatiently.

"You haven't interrupted anything," Lavender said kindly.

"Yeah, nothing at all," Parvati mimicked Lavender's tone but did so poorly.

"Oh," said Hermione, not looking anymore convinced. "Well, it's just you two always seem to be keeping secrets around here…"

Lavender figured Hermione had had a stressful day and was overreacting to nothing. Parvati rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but Lavender cut across her quickly, knowing that she would be less patient with Hermione than she.

"Hermione, honestly, we were talking about Harry Potter if you must know…"

"Oh ho! I see!" Hermione fired up instantly and pointed an accusing finger at Parvati. "Talking about Harry Potter like he's some kind of freak? Yes, Harry Potter, the boy who lived. I suppose you think I'm a freak as well then, don't you? Freaks hanging out together?"

Lavender stared at her. She could tell Parvati was just as speechless as she, and the pair of them remained silent. Hermione gave them a maniac look, then tossed her long bushy hair over her shoulder.

"Don't think I don't know what people say about me!" she cried, suddenly looking tearful. "I know you all think I'm some kind of 'know-it-all' but the truth is I just find magic fascinating, is that such a crime?" Hermione demanded, looking from Lavender to Parvati waiting for one of them to answer.

When neither of them said anything, purely out of bewilderment at Hermione's overreaction, Fay piped up from her side of the dormitory. "Blimey Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione shook her head so violently Lavender thought she might be having a fit. Not pausing to look at any of them, she seized a book from her bedside table and cradled it to her chest as she stormed out of the dormitory, slamming the door behind her with a loud bang. Parvati let out a hollow laugh. "I knew she was having a hard time making friends, but I didn't think it was that bad!" she snorted, moving off of Lavender's bed to fall on her own.

Lavender said nothing. Fay had already returned to her book and the dormitory was silent again. Lavender knew she felt sorry for Hermione but didn't want to reassure her just yet, not when she was feeling so tense. She looked over at Parvati who was now getting changed into her pajamas, and she knew her hostile behavior to Hermione was purely due to her being friends with Harry Potter. Lavender made a mental note for tomorrow morning; she would find Hermione at breakfast tomorrow and apologize. She was feeling guilty about what she had said to Parvati that morning about nobody else wanting to speak to Hermione, and figured she'd probably appreciate somebody comforting her. It wasn't her fault she was closer with the boys than the girls, but judging by her recent behavior, perhaps she wasn't that close to Harry and Ron after-all.


End file.
